TV, Satellites, and Lost

I've had the TV off for four days. After a very violent wind storm we had last week, my satellite TV reception got worse and worse, then disappeared completely. All I got was a "searching for satellite" message on an otherwise blank screen. So on Friday I called DirecTV and set up a service call.

I'm basically addicted to TV. I'm one of those people who keeps the TV on even when I'm not watching it. Like now, I'm creating this note on my computer, but the TV is on. I guess it's just noise. To feel a little less alone. I'm not the only person who does this. Thousands of us do. I know because I've read magazine articles about us.

So what does a TV addict do for four days without the TV? I could clean house. I could do some outdoor work. Or I could go grab season one of Lost off the shelf and watch it again, as I've been thinking of doing since the series ended last year.

Funny how things change over time. Maybe it's because I'm watching the episodes back-to-back that I've decided that Claire constantly whining about the "bye-bee" drives me nuts. (It didn't before.) And for some reason, Michael's screaming "WAAALLLLLLTTTTTTTTTT!!" over and over didn't bother me nearly as much as it did as the show was running.

By the end of the series I didn't like Jack at all. I'm not sure when I started my original dislike of him, but this time around I started disliking him quite early.

I got to season two, episode 15, when the DirecTV guy showed up today. For the first time in four days, I turned on the TV. Guess what? It worked. I had a satellite signal. I have my DVR set up to record several shows that I don't want to miss, and a few of them were scheduled during the outage. I noticed the DVR recorded even though there was no signal. I didn't stop it. I just figured I'd have an hour or so of nothing to erase when I got around to it. So, with the revelation that I, indeed, had a signal, I checked the recordings. They were there. Shows, not blank screen.

Wonderful! you're thinking. Yes. I'm sort of thinking that, too. Except that I'm now not only required to pay for a service call (nearly $50), I'm required to pay for a service call that I probably didn't need.

Still, the guy got up on the roof and fiddled around with the dish for a little while. And he said that something or other was loose. Then he came into my filthy house and "tested" the receiver. But who knows? Was anything really wrong? I would have enjoyed the opportunity to wait and see if the signal was indeed back and everything was working properly - the opportunity to postpone or cancel the service call. But I didn't bother to turn on the TV for four days. So now I sit, shaking my head that I didn't check the signal.

Will I keep watching Lost now that TV is back? Probably. It's just that good!

I Hate Housework

And the housework I hate the most is washing dishes. I don't currently own an automatic dishwasher, and there are many times when I don't wash dishes until I don't have any more clean ones. They just pile up on the kitchen sink until I finally decide I can't avoid them any longer. I do rinse them pretty well before I ignore them, so it's not like there's mold overtaking my kitchen. (Although, if there was, I still might be inclined to ignore it until I needed a chisel to remove it.)

I hate all kinds of housework. In spite of the fact that I bought a fancy, new, bagless vacuum cleaner, I don't have dust bunnies -- I have dust beasts. Occasionally one of the cats will mistake one for a cat toy, they get so big.

Like with the dishes, I only clean house when I can no longer avoid it. Sometimes it takes a plumbing problem, or a problem with the air conditioner. Whenever I need a repair person, I have to clean up before they come. I've postponed repairs several times until I could get the dishes done, the carpet vacuumed, and the bathroom tidied up. I both dread and, at the same time, look forward to visits from relatives, because I know I'm going to have to get the house extremely clean before their visit.

I don't think my being a rotten housekeeper is a problem, since I live alone. Whenever I lived with someone, I cleaned up after myself appropriately. I was very considerate. But the cats and dogs just don't care too much about how the house looks. In fact a couple of my cats seem to have much more fun when the floor is covered with little bits of trash that they can play with!

I keep trying things that I think might make housekeeping easier. I bought some of those brand-name, disposable dusters. I still have a few of them. They're wonderful, but I don't dust very much, so they last a long time.

I think the only thing that will really make housekeeping easier is a maid. One day I'll be able to afford one. In the meantime, don't ever show up without calling first.